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Credential Transparency Toolkit

Skills-to-Jobs Toolkit

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Connecting skills, credentials, and jobs requires clear, interoperable data that can be shared across education and workforce systems. Too often, skill information is fragmented across platforms and organizations, limiting its usefulness for learners, employers, and policymakers.

The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) and the Credential Registry provide an open data infrastructure for describing credentials, skills, and their relationships. By using linked open data, CTDL enables skill information to be connected and reused across systems, supporting alignment between education and employment.

This toolkit brings together resources that support key phases of work in building skills-based, education-to-work solutions:

  • Understand – Foundational concepts and context for skills, open data, and CTDL
  • Engage – Examples of states and partners applying CTDL in practice
  • Analyze – Tools to assess readiness and identify opportunities
  • Implement – Practical guidance and playbooks for implementation
  • Sustain – Resources to support long-term adoption and alignment

Understand: For skills-based hiring to work, we need the right infrastructure (Article) View ResourceDownload Resource
Understand: Open Data in Learn and Work Ecosystems (Diagram) View ResourceDownload Resource
Understand: Unlocking Skills, Empowering People View ResourceDownload Resource
Understand: Skill Profile Demo & Vision (Video) View ResourceDownload Resource
Understand: Aligning Education and Employment Information to Meet State Talent Goals (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Engage: Spotlight Arkansas Launch: Building a Skills-Based Ecosystem (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Engage: Spotlight Tennessee's Comprehensive Learner Record Initiative (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Engage: Spotlight The Achievement Wallet Story (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Engage: Spotlight Indiana & Western Governors University (WGU) Achievement Wallet (vVdeo) View ResourceDownload Resource
Engage: Meeting the skills-first moment: Competency Publication with Credential Engine + C-BEN (Video) View ResourceDownload Resource
Analyze: Skill Profile Readiness Assessment for Institutions, Systems, and State Agencies (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Analyze: Value of CTDL Throughout the Credential Lifecycle (Toolkit) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Skill Profile: 5 Easy Steps to Help Students Get Skill-Aligned Jobs (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Skill Profile Institutional Implementation Framework (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Skill Profile Implementation Playbook (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Connect Learning to Working: Introduction to CTDL Work Classes and Publishing Options (Video) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Competencies and Skills: Publishing and Consuming (Toolkit) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Instructions to Link Issued Credentials to CTDL Data (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Implement: Guidance on Education-to-Work CTDL connections (Resource) View ResourceDownload Resource
Sustain: LER Ecosystem Map Driving Opportunity and Equity Through Learning & Employment Records (Webpage) View ResourceDownload Resource
Sustain: Vendor Assessment Tool (CTDL-VAT) (Resources) View ResourceDownload Resource

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Additional Resources

Continue reading our roadmap, explore our state and regional partnership map, or read our policy briefs for integrating credential transparency into education and workforce development strategies

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Explore Our Partnership Map
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